Drought in the Yangtze river basin - in pictures

Drought in the Yangtze river basin - in pictures

Asia's biggest river is experiencing its worst drought in 50 years - damaging crops, threatening wildlife and raising doubts about the viability of China's massive water diversion ambitions

Wed 25 May 2011 13.30 EDT
First published on Wed 25 May 2011 13.30 EDT

Sichuan province, Chongqing municipality: In this photo taken on 29 April, part of the Yangtze river's bed is exposed as the water level drops due to drought. Much of central China is enduring its worst energy crisis in years, with factories and residents facing power cuts as supply runs short of demand, a problem worsening as drought dries rivers, reducing hydroelectric capacity

Sichuan province, Three Gorges reservoir: This photo shows how the waterline of the Yangtze river has dropped about 10 metres due to severe drought that has rendered nearly 1,400 reservoirs in Hubei province temporarily unusable, devastated farm fields and made drinking water scarce

Hubei province, Yichang city, Three Gorges dam: Cargo vessels sail in front of the Three Gorges dam. On 9 May the water level of the Three Gorges reservoir dropped to 154.77m. Authorities have decided to increase the dam's water discharges

Hubei province, Honghu city: A fisherman tries to paddle his boat through a small stream amid the partially dried-up fishery in the Honghu lake, Hubei province. The Yangtze river, China's longest, has been plagued by a severe drought, with the lowest level of rainfall since 1961

Hunan province, Huarong county: Huang Xiaohe conveys water collected from an adjacent canal to water his field. Since early May, Huarong county of Hunan province and Shishou city of Hubei province have pumped water from the Yangtze river to the Huarong river in an attempt to ease the water shortage

Hunan province, Yueyang city: A farmer looks at his farmland's dried out earth and withered crops caused by severe drought in Junshan district. The drought has disrupted drinking water supplies to more than 320,000 people and dried up 3,000 square kilometres of farmland, according to statistics from the local authorities

Hunan province, Changsha city: The naked riverbed is seen in the Changsha segment of the Xiangjiang river in Changsha. This segment of the river has suffered a drought since the beginning of this year. The water level here fell to 25.78 meters on 22 April, approaching the water supply warning line of 25.1 metres.

Hubei province, Shiyan city: The naked riverbed is seen in Danjiangkou reservoir on Han river. The Danjiangkou reservoir, a water supply to China's South-to-North Water Diversion Project that transfers water from south China region to the north, has abnormally low water levels due to the drought. On 5 May, the water level here stood at 135.11 metres, four metres lower than the 139-metre dead water level

Hubei province, Wuhan city: Local residents walk along the bare bed of the Yangtze river during a drought in Hankou. The drought has lowered the water levels in the middle section of the Yangtze river, to near record lows, local authorities said

Hubei province, Macheng city: Villagers water fields with water supply from a trunk on 4 May. Since November 2010, one third of Hubei province's counties and cities have suffered serious water shortage. Some local farmers have given up planting rice for crops suitable for dry land, like cotton

Jiangxi province, Nanchang city: A grounded vessel in Nanchang section of Ganjiang river, Jiangxi province, east China. Major rivers in Jiangxi, including the Ganjiang river, the second largest tributary of the Yangtze river, and the Fuhe river, which flows into Poyang lake, have recently recorded their historical levels of the same period. Since late March, the drought has affected about 434,667 hectares of paddy fields in Jiangxi, where precipitation has hit a record low in the past few months

Jiangxi province, Jiujiang city: Water levels have sunk as low as 10ft in the main thoroughfare of the 3,900-mile Yangtze river that stretches from the glaciers of the Tibetan plateau to the coastal city of Shanghai. The rivers management office has now closed a 140-mile stretch of the river above Wuhan to ocean-going vessels because of the shallow water. It also said the river is 160 feet narrower in key sections than it was last year

Jiangsu province, Nanjing city: A dock on the Yangtze river. Because of the drought, the highest and lowest water levels of the Nanjing reach along the Yangtze river are both one metre less than normal